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Thursday, February 7, 2013

I have become a big fan of my local Habitat for Humanity Restore in the past couple of years. As a fan of theirs on Facebook, I am frequently enticed with pictures of pieces of furniture in dire need of love and a new home.

In one such case, a picture posted featuring one piece more prominently revealed another in the background that beckoned to me.

I didn't need a new coffee table. I had an old trunk that was serving that purpose just fine. But we had recently made a few furniture revisions to our living room {which I hope to show very soon!} and the trunk wasn't floating my boat anymore. But why fix what ain't broke?

Well, when I saw this little table, I realized something was broke, and needed fixing. :)

It was hard to tell in the picture the exact condition of said table. It looked half-painted/half-stained, or something of that sort. It looked like someone had tried to love it, but gave up. When I saw it in person, that was definitely what happened. The table was actually half-sanded/half-stained. And what was left stained was the more difficult parts to sand.

But I bought her, and brought her home, and set her in my living room, and waited for inspiration to hit me.

The longer she sat in my living room, the more I appreciated the bare woodness of her. Most of my projects involved spray paint of some form or fashion {don't worry; this one will too} but the thought of covering up that glorious grain was disheartening. And I couldn't decide on a color either.

So all that pretty much made up my mind for me: strip the stain. Leave it natural. Embrace the naked wood beauty.

But, going natural ain't easy.

When I first decided I was going to sand down the remaining stain, I was not looking forward to it. With the "shelves" on this table, there were lots of nooks and crannies, plus the turned legs, to sand. I could totally understand why whoever started this project quickly gave it up. But once I actually got it outside and looked at the construction of the table, low and behold, the table EASILY comes apart!! Woo hoo!

Once I had all the parts disassembled, sanding it was a piece of cake. Well, except for the legs. But I finally got them bared too, although not completely, but it's almost like they're aged, so it works, ha ha.

I wanted the table to be protected {since my sweet nephew has once before spilled his Kool-Aid on my table} but I didn't want to do a poly. So I just applied a coat of clear wax over all surfaces. Protection with naked wood intact. Check.

Ok, here's where the spray paint comes in. See those little spindles between the table top and the "shelves"?

I was not going to sand those. I had saved those little guys until the end, and was already thoroughly frustrated enough with the legs that I was not about to try to sand those little guys. But, they were a perfect place to add in a pop of color. I decided on red, since I have that as an accent in my house.

I assembled the table as easily as I disassembled it, minus the legs. They were in for a special treat.

On a more recent trip to the Restore for something totally different, I literally accidentally happened upon the only 2 packages they had of these:

Small furniture casters the perfect size for my coffee table legs! My hubby and I had discussed putting casters on this coffee table so we could easily move it out of the way for Wii game night. I had haphazardly searched my local hardware store, and then the hardware giants, but couldn't find any small enough.

These little guys were destined for me. I'm certain. :)

So, we installed them on the legs, attached the legs to the table, and I'm in love!

And that little pop of red is so great!

I love my new table, and I can't wait to show how it works in our new overall living room look.

So, whadya think?

Natural is so great, ha ha! Hope you find some natural beauty in your life.

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